New Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will be sworn-in on March 19 even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP is yet to handpick the right person for the job.

New Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will be sworn-in on March 19 even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP is yet to handpick the right person for the job. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at Smriti Upwan in Lucknow.

New Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will be sworn-in on March 19 even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP is yet to handpick the right person for the job. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at Smriti Upwan in Lucknow. It has been learned that PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will be present in the oath-taking ceremony. Union Minister Manoj Sinha has emerged as the strongest possible face for the Chief Ministerial post. Sinha, however, on Friday ruled himself out for the post. “Neither I am in the race (for UP CM) nor do I know of any such race, he said. Sinha, an upper caste Bhumihar, has considerable administrative experience. 57-year-old Sinha an MP from Ghazipur in Poorvanchal.

With an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP is making sure the Chief Minister that it selects must please every sections. With speculation rife over the BJP’s chief ministerial pick for Uttar Pradesh, party chief Amit Shah yesterday had left everyone guessing with his remark that he has given the responsibility of choosing the CM to state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya.

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Newly elected BJP MLAs in UP will meet on March 18 and are likely to elect their legislature party leader. “Party’s central observers – Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav – will be present at the meeting on Saturday at 5 PM,” BJP’s general secretary in UP, where the party won a three-fourth majority, Vijay Bahadur Pathak told PTI in Lucknow.

Asked specifically as to whether there was any likelihood of an election for the post of the leader of the Legislature Party, Pathak avoided a direct reply, saying, “I can’t say.”
The names of probables for the top post doing the rounds in political circles include Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Singh, a former UP chief minister, is probably the tallest BJP leader in the state. Maurya, who had helped consolidate non-Yadav OBC votes in the party’s favour, is said to be in the good books of BJP chief Amit Shah. Another probable is Union Minister Mahesh Sharma, who has strong links with RSS.